From the VLT to ALMA and to the E-ELT

From the VLT to ALMA and to the E-ELT

Mission Develop and operate world-class observing facilities for astronomical research Organize collaborations in astronomy Intergovernmental treaty-level organization Founded in 1962 by 5 countries Currently 14 member states Observatories in Chile Optical/infrared: La Silla and Paranal Sub-mm: APEX and ALMA partnerships: Chajnantor HQ in Garching and Office in Santiago

ESO Today La Silla and Paranal Observatory in full operations (8 telescopes in 2010, plus 4 telescopes for interferometry) APEX operating on Chajnantor ALMA under construction (early science in 2011, full operations in 2013) Operational data archive European Extremely Large Telescope in design phase

La Silla Paranal Observatory Very Large Telescope (Paranal) 9 telescopes operational, one in commissioning 14 instruments in use, 7 in development Instrumentation covers the available optical infrared wavelengths from 300nm to 20μm Angular resolution from seeing limit (0.8 arcseconds) to 50 micro-arcseconds Imagers and wide-field imagers survey telescopes Spectrographs resolution from ~5 < λ/δλ < 150000 Interferometric array (VLTI) Laser Guide Star Facility

Laser Guide Star Facility

The VLT Interferometer

Top list of ESO science Galactic Centre Supermassive black hole Measure gravity in its strong regime Extrasolar planets Images and spectroscopy Characterise other worlds Accelerating Universe Spectroscopy of distant supernovae Gamma-Ray Bursts/Supernovae Explosion physics Tracers of the distant universe

Other top science from ESO Metal-poor stars Finding the oldest known stars Trace Big Bang nucleosynthesis Stellar populations in nearby galaxies Stellar archeology Massive galaxies in the distant Universe Formation and evolution of galaxies Varying physical constants? Measure the fine-structure constant over time Testing the cosmological model Cosmic background temperature

Black hole at the Galactic Centre Mass determination through stellar orbits Structure around the black hole revealed through flashes Coordinated studies with other wavelengths Multi-year study use of AO instruments (SHARP on NTT, ISAAC NACO, SINFONI on VLT)

Accelerating Universe Contribution of most of the early photometry and spectroscopy of High-z SN Search Team difference between a 4m and a 8m telescope Riess et al. 1998, AJ, 116, 1009 Leibundgut & Sollerman 2001

Gamma-Ray Bursts Identification relies on optical data redshifts, explosion energies, explosion physics Cosmological probes the most distant observable stars light houses to measure the intergalactic medium tracers of chemical enrichment? Very short duration required special instrumentation and software to observe adequately

i z J Gamma-Ray Bursts Most distant stellar objects ever observed redshifts 6.7 and 8.2 (tentative) lookback time of nearly 12.5 billion years (or 95% of the age of the universe) VLT equipped with rapid response mode allows to observe a gamma-ray burst 10 minutes after detection GRB080913

Most distant stellar object yet observed GRB 090423 Optical drop-out, bright in the near-infrared Rapid decline Tanvir et al., Nature submitted

GRB 090423 Spectroscopy 17 hours after outburst Lyman break indicates a redshift of z 8.2 ISAAC SINFONI

Atacama Large Millimeter Array Global project with Europe, North America and East Asia as partners Science requirements Detect CO and [CII] in Milky Way galaxy at z=3 in < 24 hr Dust emission, gas kinematics in proto-planetary disks Resolution to match Hubble, JWST and 8-10m with AO Complement to Herschel Specifications 66 antennas (54x12m, 12x7m) 14 km max baseline (< 10mas) 30-1000 GHz (10 0.3mm), up to 10 receiver bands HST ALMA 5AU 850 GHz

ALMA ALMA will explore the cold universe typical gas temperatures` 10 K < T gas < 500 K molecular astrophysics ALMA has great capabilities to observe the distant universe inverse K-correction detection of the cold gas in distant galaxies as tracers of star formation [C II] 157μm is the strongest coolant in most galaxies CO amongst the most abundant molecules in the universe Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect directly measurable

K-corrections due to redshift In the (sub-)millimeter the inverse K-correction compensates for the distance as redshift increases

Starburst at z=6.4 Detection of [C II] in the distant universe 1 PdBI 0.25 res Maiolino et al. 2005 Walter et al. 2009 FIR continuum [CII] [CII] size ~ 1.5 kpc => SFR/area ~ 1000 M o yr -1 kpc -2

Astrophysical relevance

Observing the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect with ALMA Observing Dark Matter signatures in SZ effect with ALMA

ALMA 2013

E-ELT Detailed design study Baseline 42m primary mirror Adaptive optics built-in 8 instrument studies and 2 adaptive optics modules selection of the first generation of instruments (~ 6 instruments) Community strongly engaged Study complete in 2010 Project Builds on entire expertise at ESO and in the member states Construction 2011-2018 Synergy: JWST/ALMA/SKA

Science cases for the E-ELT Observe Earth-like planets in the habitable zone characterisation, e.g. atmosphere observe planetary systems Measure the dynamics of the cosmic expansion see Joe Liske s presentation Measure any evolution in the value of the finestructure constant α also Joe s talk Observe the stellar population (individual stars) out to the Virgo cluster Explore the high-redshift universe first objects

ESO telescopes have plenty to contribute to cosmology The La Silla Paranal Observatory continues to be upgraded Second generation instruments (VLT/VLTI) Key surveys with VST and VISTA Key science themes: strong gravity black hole in the Galactic Centre distant universe galaxy formation, first stars ALMA provides access to the cold stages of matter E-ELT will open the possibility to directly measure dynamics of cosmic expansion address the constancy of the fine-structure constant